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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24045262">Broken</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/SnowQueenOfMyHeart/pseuds/SnowQueenOfMyHeart'>SnowQueenOfMyHeart</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Casselsa Collection [34]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Frozen (Disney Movies), Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Architect!Elsa, But you won't miss her, Cass and Elsa in the early stages of their relationship, Cassandra has a lot of issues and her mother is the reason, Child Neglect, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Minor Character Death, Officer!Cassandra, Originally Posted on Tumblr, References to Drugs, References to Gothel, Son AU</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 02:40:27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,249</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24045262</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/SnowQueenOfMyHeart/pseuds/SnowQueenOfMyHeart</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Flashback in the Son AU to when Elsa finds out about Cassandra's past. Bring tissues.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Cassandra/Elsa (Disney: Tangled)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Casselsa Collection [34]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1177631</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>31</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Broken</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Inspired by this scene from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PI4Mv8R0mE0</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p></p><div class="">
  <p>Six years ago. Cassandra has been a beat cop and just worked her way up to being a detective in the NYPD. She’s been officially dating Elsa for almost two months after having had a series of hookups and flings with other women. Then she gets a call. She has to come to the coroner’s office.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Elsa receives a text from Cassandra that’s cryptic but notifies where she is going. As soon as she can, Elsa leaves her office and rushes down to the coroner, trying to keep calm as her mind races with what could possibly have led to her girlfriend coming here. She hasn’t been with Cassandra very long, and there is precious little she knows about her personal life. Then again, Elsa hasn’t been terribly forthcoming either. It’s an issue they have in common.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Elsa hurries inside and finds Cassandra standing alone in the hallway. She’s holding a small object in the palm of her hand. Her gaze is unfocused.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Cassandra? What’s wrong?” Elsa approaches cautiously. She pauses several feet away, knowing not to pressure Cassandra or crowd her space.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Silence. Then...</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“My mother is dead.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Cassandra says it matter-of-factly. No hint of remorse. She adds in the same tone, “Overdose.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Elsa gasps softly and covers her mouth with her hand. Her heart clenches as she realizes there is yet another thing she has in common with this woman. Dead parents. Different circumstances, however.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“I’m so sorry.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Sorry?” Cassandra looks up, making eye contact. She appears incredulous at the attempt to sympathize.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Well, I know how it feels...” Elsa tries to explain, not sure why Cassandra is acting like this. “To lose someone you love...”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“I’m not sorry.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>The words cut Elsa off abruptly. She stares in shock. Cassandra can be cold, and Elsa is no stranger to acting cold, but this...</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Then a thought dawns on her.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Cass, when was the last time you saw your mother?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Cassandra grips the object in her hand tightly. “Nineteen years ago.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Elsa quickly does the math and realizes... “When you were four?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Cassandra doesn’t answer. But Elsa knows she is correct. Now her heart is breaking.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Oh, Cass, I’m really really sorry. I didn’t know...” She takes a step forward reaching out, only to pull back when Cassandra snaps her head back up to look at her. The expression is different. It’s almost scary.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“You know what? It’s fine.” Cassandra starts talking, and Elsa watches as the rookie detective tries to put on a brave face. “What’s there to say? Mom overdosed because she was addicted to her looks and trying to always look young and sexy. Didn’t matter what it took to keep up that facade. Didn’t matter to her that her own daughter was never good enough for her. Oh no, she just loved keeping me around even as a fucking baby to do her shit, clean her stuff, do chores, and all the while waiting for mom to come home and show just the slightest bit of affection.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Elsa feels like she is frozen to the spot, as if the ice in her veins has taken over. She is helpless as Cassandra keeps talking, her voice steadily rising with each revelation of her childhood.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Hell, it was just fine when she straight up abandoned me at four years old, running from the cops to save her own skin. And then I get adopted by a cop who is married to his work and can’t properly help me with how I feel about that night, or any of the shit that I had to deal with as a little girl. Yeah, I think I turned out just fine. Sure, I spent the first few months crying myself to sleep asking when mommy was coming back. I got to play with cop stuff from a young age because that’s all my adopted father seemed to know. I had to learn how to fend off bullies without any hugs or kisses from mom. I had to figure out how to deal with periods and cramps on my own because god knows Dad couldn’t help. I spent all of high school grappling with the reality that I actually liked girls and not knowing how to handle it. Good thing I knew how to fight from all that bullying because I sure fucking needed it when people tried to give me crap for being a lesbian, for being the daughter of a cop, for not having any mother there during all those school events when parents come in to gush over their precious little kids. I had to navigate my feelings on my own when I started applying for the NYPD and having to choose whether to stay in the closet or own my sexuality. And I didn’t have no goddamn mother to help me with any of that! I didn’t have a mother to help me through all my struggles to form a meaningful relationship or to just accept me as a lesbian! No, she was off getting fucked up and fucking every jackass dude who even gave her one petty ass compliment!! <em><strong>TO HELL WITH HER!!!</strong></em>”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>The last four words echo through the deserted hall as Cassandra roars with a fury Elsa has never seen. The object in her hand is thrown to the ground and shatters as she rants about her mother’s messed up priorities. Her body shakes as she glares off to the side, her chest heaving. Elsa instinctively has her arms wrapped around her middle, desperately trying to think of something - anything - she can say. But words fail her.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Cassandra huffs and begins to walk past her girlfriend. “I didn’t need her then and I don’t need her now.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Cass, please...”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“No, Elsa, just stop,” Cassandra whirls around to face her, holding up her hand. “There’s nothing you need to say. My mom was a vain bitch and now she’s dead. I’m glad. Because now I can go on living MY life without having to ever worry about trying to find her or please her again. I’ve got a career, I’ve got a place of my own, and maybe I’ll even have a steady girlfriend for once who might love me as I am. And I don’t need her approval for anything! And if I ever have any kids, I won’t even give a second thought about what that bitch would have to say because she didn’t know a damn thing about being a mother!!”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Tears well up in Cassandra’s eyes as her voice begins to waver. Elsa’s eyes are already swimming but she ignores them. She’s trying so hard to be strong for Cassandra. Normally it would be the other way around. Not right now.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Only a few feet separate the two women. Silence falls again, broken only by the sniffles of the black-haired woman as her blonde girlfriend takes a half step closer.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Cassandra’s hands are clenched in fists once more. Shaking as she struggles to breathe. Slowly, she looks down at the wreckage of the small object. A tear slides down her cheek. Her voice is as broken as the music box now lying in pieces on the cold hard floor.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Why didn’t she want me?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>And just as Cassandra’s heart shatters from all those years of grief and bitterness and anger and hurt, Elsa closes the distance and embraces her fiercely, protectively. Holding her sobbing girlfriend up as she clings desperately to the first woman who has ever truly loved her.</p>
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